Monday, 26 February 2018

Review: The Year That Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly

Three women celebrate their birthdays . . . 30. 40. 50. But their milestone birthdays mark the start of a year that will change everything . . .

Ginger isn't spending her 30th the way she would have planned. Tonight might be the first night of the rest of her life - or a total disaster.

Sam is finally pregnant after years of trying. When her waters break on the morning of her 40th birthday, she panics: forget labour, how is she going to be a mother?

Callie is celebrating her 50th at a big party in her Dublin home. Then a knock at the door mid-party turns her perfect life upside down . . .

Full of warmth and wisdom, this is a story about finding happiness on your own terms from international bestseller Cathy Kelly.

Review: This is such an original premise for a book. Three women all having milestone birthdays and not all of them quite living up to expectations. For me the strength of this book lies right here, things not living up to expectations. Cathy Kelly really sheds a lights on what being a woman at these milestone ages is actually like compared to what society deems it should be.

This book tackles some difficult issues as well and does so very well. It covers what happens when marriages end unexpectedly, the difficulty in having a baby and really delves deep into body image. I could relate to all of these characters even though I most identify with Ginger, and not just because I'm in my 30s too!

These characters are all unique but have a connection. We don't see them reveal that connection until much later on in the book. As I have mentioned above, I felt the most empathy with Ginger, she is a great character to read about and I would love to hear more from her in the future! Sam is also very easy to get along with and I can definitely see aspects of her in my girlfriends. I feel like Callie has the most thrown at her in this novel, she has a very difficult ride, even if on the surface it doesn't seem that way.

Obviously this book has multiple narratives and I did struggle a little to identify where we were in each of the characters storylines when we picked back up with them again because each of their sections was quite long. Once I got back into each of their worlds though, I enjoyed going on this journey with them. I think this switching did slow down the pace of the book a little for me, even though I am normally a fan of a multiple narrative. Cathy Kelly's charm and wit shine through though and I say this is a plot which is unique and I'd love to see more of!